The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22

EXCUSES are as thick as The blackberries that
are now growing on the bushes, and all are a
miserable refuge of lies. No my friends you
cannot escape the responsibility for the moral
and intellectual training of your offspring.
You NAV continue as you have done and are
doing to leave these to the school teacher, and
Won may throw off another and more impor-
tant duty by leaving their spiritual training
to the teachers in the Sabbath schools, but
for all these things you will surely be called
to account with troubles, vexation and dis
appointed hopes here and it may be by con-
demnati0n hereafter.
THE SCHOOL TEACHER IN THE SABBATH SCHOOL.
The lesson to be drawn from this, and one
that we as parents should diligently lay 70
heart and practice, is that the school teacher
shall take the lead in the intellectual training
of our children. In the Sabbath school, they
can only add to and supplement moral
and spiritual training-the ground work OF
these must be laid at home, around the hearth
stone, in the family circle. To the genius
whose special province it is to preside here;
to the tender, pious, loving, but firm and in.
telligent mother is the world more indebted
to-day for whatever Of good there is in it,
than to the authors of all the grand epics;
to the philosophers in all the realms of sci
ence, or to the inventors in every department
is SO often found to be, with that simple, un-
questioning, child-like faith which would have
Frustrated her, too, at the feet of the Master,
to wash them with her tears and to wine them
with the hair of her head. Listen, as she re-
lates. to the little ones around her knee, with
tender pathos, the old, old story Of the cross;
and when the labors of the day are ended and
the little feet are tired, see her as one by one
she nestlcs them to sleep upon her bosom,
and hear the little tongues, so fresh from God
that they sound like the angels still, as they
lisp
"Now lay me down to sleep,
pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if shonld die before wake,
pray the Lord my soul to take"
Oh wonderful, beautiful, universal prayer
of childhood, with only single word of more
than one syllable in it, yet, simple as it is, /
would rather be the author Of it than to have
written the "Iliad," the "Odyssey," or "Para-
disc Lost" for who can compute the list re-
claimed by it, whose footsteps have followed
the devious paths of sin; who have strayed
far from the fold with torn and bleeding feet
and with heads hot and feyered by dissipa-
tion in the haunts of vice. How many prodi-
gal son has taken his journey into far coun'
try and after spending his substance in riotous
living, would fain have filled his belly with
the husks that the swine did eat, has come tt
himself, and with these lines ringing in his
ears, and the associations OF innocent child
hood, which they suggest, pressing upon his
heart and conscience, has been given grace
and strength, even in his desolation, to say
"I will arise and 90 to my Father?" Shall
pursue the parable further? You know th Q
result: how the father seeing him, yet grea
way off, ran to him (he did not walk, he ran,
and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and
ordered forth the best robe and ring for his
hand and shoes for his feet. The fatted call
was killed and they began to be merry.
TRIBUTE TO JUDGE wARDLAw.
An incident occurs to me, just here, illus
tratng so we'll this part of my subject, thai
I feel it is unnecessary to bespeak of an Alb
bcville audience any apology 70, its recital
1t concerns one Of the greatest, in my humble
Judgment, the very greatest of the many dis.
tinguished men that for. nearly enc hundred
wears Abbeviile District gave to the country
one whose life had been heightened out be-
yond the Psalmist's allotted period; who was
born and reared and lived and labored an6
died among you; who had reaped all the hon.
ors and much of the emolument of the pro-
fession of the law which he adorned; who
strobe like giant upon the mountain top o
that noble profession, exciting the wonder
below. Stricken down by an ncurable NAL.
ady, he laid for weeks and months in con-
scious hearing of the swelling food of the
river upon whose bosom we must all sooner
or later float, whose dark waters flow out
forever to the unknown sea. Just at day
dawn, after a night of painful suffering and
unrest. he said to the faithful watcher by his
bedside, "now let Inc turn over and catch nal
of sleep" Sinking into unconsciousuess, he
was heard to mutter the simple, touching
lines have already recited. 1t was his last
uttcrance ON earth, and as the hunted hare re-
turns to die near the form from which her re-
lentless pursuers have driven her, so did this
great man, III the hour of death, become, as
Il were, little child again.
Oh happy deliverance from care and toi
and suffering and even unto such is the
promise of eternal life, for "except ye become
as little children, ye cannot enter into the
kingdom of heaven"
In view of these solemn truths, where is
boasting, vain glory, strife and bitterness ot
contention. earthly fame, the feeting applause
of men anAall the empty honors for which We
toll and strive. They are in comparison with
the excclleucy of a knowledge of better ant
more enduring things, but as the small du!
of the balance.
elbow e'er it be, it seems to me
IT'S only nODle TO De SOOu,
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood.
cannot, my friends, take leave of you OF
this occasion, without expressing what l an
sure we all feel, strong sense of admiration
and gratitude to the brave and intelligen
Young women to whom so much credit is du,
for founding this Institution of learning
With faith in themselves, in their noble
cause and in many of you, which is sublime
have they labored and toiled in this behalf
with marvellous success, and have brought Il
your very doors the inestimable advantages
of higher education,
There is legend which has been preserved
for centuries among the devout worshipers u
the Church of Los Angeles at Puebla in Mex
leo, that in the erection of their beautiful
temple, the wonder and admiration of every
behOlder--the angels came at night ant
and carried on the work, correcting the er'
rors of the builders who wrought by day
Our own poet, Emerson, has expressed the
same thought in speaking of that grandest o.
all earthly temples, St. Peters at Rome, and
of the immortal Michael Angelo who designed
it and gave his life to the great work; that he
was but passive instrument in the hands o
God and builded as he was directed by the
great architect of the universe. Wherefore
noble young women and you the patrons o.
this youthful aspirant for usefulness ane
fame, be of good cheer, be not discouraged
but persevere to the end in this glorious un
dertaking which has upon it already the sea
of the great architects approval, for whilst
you sleep the angels will come 10 carry on the
work, and when you have rested from your
labors and shall have been gathered to your
fathers, atar down the aisles of time will fu'
turc generations arise to call you blessed, ant
will inscribe in letters of living light upor
this, your work, and they too
"Builded better than they knew"